Maternal Health Task Force
The Maternal Health Task Force strives to create a strong, well-informed and collaborative community of individuals focused on ending preventable maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide.
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Blog
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Quality of Routine Labor and Delivery Care in Uttar Pradesh, India: Are Private Facilities Better?
While studies of public facilities in India have indicated generally poor quality of care, evidence from private facilities—particularly for normal labor and delivery—is scarce. In an effort to address this evidence gap, a recent article from the Bulletin of the World Health Organization assessed the quality of essential obstetric and newborn care during routine labor and delivery in Uttar Pradesh, India…read more
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New “Global Maternal Health Workforce” Blog Series: Call for Submissions
Functional health systems depend on the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of health workers. An effective maternal health workforce requires not only a sufficient number of workers, but also equitable geographic distribution, diversity in skill, adequate education and training and strong, supportive health systems…read more
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Facility-Based Delivery Has Increased in Africa and Asia – Now What?
Encouraging facility-based delivery as a strategy to increase skilled attendance at birth in order to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths has been a priority in the global maternal health agenda for decades. However, it has been widely recognized that expanding facility-based births without addressing issues of equity, quality and dignity is not sufficient for improving maternal health. A recent paper examined trends in delivery location in Africa and Asia and offered policy recommendations for moving forward…read more
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From the Archives | Addressing Sexual, Reproductive and Maternal Health in Humanitarian Settings
In honor of International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict and World Refugee Day next week, the Maternal Health Task Force is sharing a roundup up key resources related to sexual, reproductive and maternal health care in humanitarian settings…read more
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A Pre-Discharge Checklist for Improving Facility-Based Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns
Globally, 45% of postpartum maternal deaths occur on the day of birth, and 66% take place during the first week after birth. A new postnatal care pre-discharge checklist and poster developed by USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program advance high-quality, evidence-based postnatal care practices to improve care during this critical period…read more
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After Fistula Repair: Understanding Women’s Needs in Uganda
To better understand the long-term outcomes of fistula repair, Makerere University in Uganda and the University of California, San Francisco recently conducted a longitudinal study to develop a measure of post-surgical reintegration success and document physical and mental health changes among repaired clients…read more
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2017 Safe Mothers and Newborns Leadership Workshop
Next week, 47 participants representing 27 countries and a faculty of experts in maternal and newborn health from around the world will gather in Nairobi, Kenya for the third Safe Mothers and Newborns Leadership Workshop. The goal of the workshop is to increase the capacity and leadership skills of current and emerging leaders in the field of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health from high burden countries…read more
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Ensuring Safer Pregnancies for Kenyan Women in Urban Slums
Kenya has a relatively high maternal mortality ratio at 488 deaths per 100,000 live births, and also faced substantial socioeconomic and geographic disparities. Many causes of maternal death can be prevented with timely access to high quality antenatal care (ANC). A recent study investigated factors associated with the timing and frequency of ANC among women living in the slums of Nairobi…read more
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Ending “Preventable” Maternal Deaths With Limited Resources: Learning From Successful Country Programs
Interventions to improve facilities’ capacity to respond quickly and effectively to obstetric emergencies are often extremely difficult to implement in low-resource settings. However, several low- and middle-income countries have implemented effective interventions to reduce maternal deaths despite resource limitations and other challenges…read more
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New Jobs and Internships in Maternal Health
Interested in a position in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child or adolescent health? Every month, the Maternal Health Task Force rounds up job and internship postings from around the globe. In this month’s roundup, we are featuring positions at Management Sciences for Health, EngenderHealth, Jacaranda Health and other organizations…read more